Expecting a £400 of software for £20.

[nigelwright7557]

Had a customer complain today about some software i sold him.
It is a pcb cad package and he says it isnt as good as EasyPC which he is used to.

Firstly EasyPC is £400 and my software is £17.

Secondly the only problems people have complained about is people migrating to my software from another package.
Well of course my software works differently otherwise i would be being sued for plagurism !

And I am certainly not going to be selling EasyPC for £17 !

This is one pitfall of selling cheap, people want it cheap but want the best package possible for the price.

With my software I support it fully, if someone finds a bug then I fix it which is a rare occurrence. Getting support on a £17 piece of software is pretty good service.

Also the customer was horrified that I wrote it ! Well i have been writing software for 30 years, so how long do I have to do it before I am allowed to do it for money ?


So it seems he was expecting EasyPC for £17. If he had asked then I would have told him I wrote it. Having said that I advertised it as PCBCAD50 not EasyPC so I dont get his problem.

[Francec]

Nigel,
What is the difference between 40 and 50, by-the-way?

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by Francec

Nigel,
What is the difference between 40 and 50, by-the-way?

40 uses .net framework 3.5 and uses direct x 3d viewing.
50 uses .net framework 4 and uses XNA 3d viewing.

[simon7000]

Well lets see.

If 10% of your customers complain, you actually have a lousy product and word of mouth will do you in.

If 5% of you customers complain, then your product is slightly below standard, but will sell based on your promotion ability.

If 1% of your customers complain you have an above average product and word of mouth will sell additional units.

If .1% of your customers complain, you have an outstanding product and are not charging enough.

So I presume you have sold more than ten copies. !!

[nigelwright7557]

I have sold around 500 copies.
Problems have been with less than 1% of customers.

[simon7000]

Well in that case your quality is excellent and your price is about right or slightly low. But just to be sure you should sent me a complimentary copy!

[djQUAN]

Maybe the customer doesn't realize that softwares are written by humans? I think in his mind someone should be writing software before the computer age before they could do it for money?

[counter culture]

500 copies?

For 8k5 UKP you have to expect a little pain.

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by djQUAN

Maybe the customer doesn't realize that softwares are written by humans?

I think he was convinced that because he had used EasyPC that any software he bought would work exactly the same. Oddly the software was written after I became disillusioned with 1990 EasyPC and does have many similar key presses.

His comment about me writing the software suggests he thought I was selling a rebadged EasyPC. But EasyPc is £400 not £17 so his assumptions were not sensible.

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by counter culture

500 copies?

For 8k5 UKP you have to expect a little pain.

I was an electronics and software design consultant for 13 years and a Chief Design Engineer for 3 years so have dealt quite a bit with customers. My comments were just letting off a little steam.

Its the old problem of people who can only afford a Mini but want a Rolls Royce for the same money. Simply unrealistic expectations.